The All-Star Break is well underway, and it’s not exactly a misnomer this time around. Joe Kelly, Major League Baseball’s star, is indeed taking a break.
The latest on the greatest:
- On Wednesday, Joe Kelly made a surprise appearance against El Paso. Popped up in Oklahoma without a lot of warning. He was pitching for the Oklahoma City Baseball Club.* How’d the rehab outing go? Let’s just say that if part of The Joe Kelly Experience occasionally includes Joe Kelly walking a ton of batters, the good people of El Paso were treated to an authentic version of The Joe Kelly Experience.
- On Thursday, Joe Kelly made another surprise appearance. Faced one batter. Retired him. Rehab outings on back-to-back days are unusual, but I guess they wanted to see how his shoulder ramped back up? And they saw it ramped back up well?
- On Sunday, a third outing for OKC. No runs this time, and one strikeout, but he did walk two batters. Again, I don’t know why people are making a big deal about the walks. Joe Kelly has spoiled the public in recent years by cutting down on walks. The Rick Vaughn comparisons were always about more than the glasses.
- Casey Porter reported our man’s fastball hit 97 on Wednesday, in the second outing. Not all that fast by Joe Kelly standards (Joe Kelly standards are terrifically fast), but early in an appearance, on back-to-back days, in a minor league setting? Doesn’t seem concerning to me.
- On Friday, Dave Roberts said again that Joe Kelly will be back after the All-Star Break, but I’ve been unable to confirm whether there was an implied “immediately” in there. It seems that the “immediately” was implied, but “after the All-Star Break” could technically mean a lot of different things. Will we see Joe Kelly back with Los Angeles on Friday? This is the biggest unanswered question facing our nation this week.
*Someone please remind me to find the explanation for why the Oklahoma City Dodgers needed a temporary rebrand. I understood the temporariness of the Washington Football Team. I understand the temporariness of the Utah Hockey Club. But why would the Oklahoma City Dodgers need a pause? I don’t mind it, and I don’t mind changing names, but why not continue to be the Oklahoma City Dodgers while coming up with the new name? It feels like a minor league bit they forgot to dress up as a bit. Like if they did fireworks night but didn’t tell anyone it was going to happen.
The only guess I can make is that the Oklahoma City Baseball Club wanted to sell some cool merch. Or they wanted to become the Oklahoma City Baseball Club but they were a little nervous, so they dressed up the trial period as a transition period. I guess that first guess wasn’t the only guess I could make after all. I have two guesses. Those are the two.
